Rocks cause woman's shorts to catch fire

NORTH COUNTY  In a case that a fire official called “bizarre,” authorities were trying to determine how rocks collected at San Onofre State Beach caused a woman’s shorts to catch fire about an hour later at her home, severely burning her.

The 43-year-old San Clemente woman remained hospitalized Thursday with second- and third-degree burns to a leg and knee, said Battalion Chief Kris Concepcion of the Orange County Fire Authority. The woman and her husband also suffered hand burns when they tried to put out the flames before firefighters arrived, he said.

The woman’s children collected seven rocks Saturday from a popular surfing beach called Trestles north of Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base and near San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. They took them home and she later picked them up and put them in her shorts pocket.

Initial tests indicate two of the rocks had phosphorus on them, Denise Fennessy, Orange County environmental health official, told The Associated Press.

Phosphorous can burn when exposed to air, Concepcion said. He said the rocks were 2 to 3 inches round. One had green specks and another had orange specks.

The fire at the house set off a smoke alarm and also burned a wood floor, Concepcion said.

Concepcion said that in his 21 years as a firefighter, he has never heard of such an incident. More tests are being done on the rocks, and results may take at least a week, he said.